


The Sum of a Spider

by friendlyneighborhoodsecretary



Series: I'm Never Prompt with Prompts [19]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, May Parker (Spider-Man) Needs a Hug, May Parker Is a Great Parent, Scene Expansion, Spider-Man: Homecoming Spoilers, Superhero Parenting is Hard, Who Gets the Shock of Her Life When Finding Out Her Kid's a Spider-Man, mostly internal monologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:48:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23554828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighborhoodsecretary/pseuds/friendlyneighborhoodsecretary
Summary: A million thoughts go through May Parker's head in the space of an instant when she spots Spider-Man in her own apartment.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker
Series: I'm Never Prompt with Prompts [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558726
Comments: 19
Kudos: 97





	The Sum of a Spider

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt: whelve - to bury something deep, to hide

A thousand thoughts crash over one another in the split second it takes May to round the doorway that separates Peter’s doorway from the hall. Her mind goes numb—frozen in the state of broken zen between overloaded silence and the screeching, screaming record scratch her world has just careened into.

She weighs what she knows about Spider-Man in the instant it takes her to decide whether or not to yell about the fact that he’s _standing in Peter’s bedroom_. It’s impossible to live in the heart of a superhero’s chosen turf without running across the evidence of both the man and his character on a day-to-day basis. She knows this borough like the back of her hand. She’s been immersed in the ebb and flow of life here for decades longer than Spider-Man has, but they’re both children of the same neighborhood. The same streets, the same accents, the same inside jokes, and the same community pride must flow in their veins. Subsequently, it feels like she knows Spider-Man at least a little bit, too.

She certainly knows enough _of_ him, of that there’s no doubt. How could she not when the city of Queens chatters about him as proudly—and as frequently—as a granny crowing over her favorite grandchild? He crops up in idle water cooler chats about late night sightings and whether or not it’s weird that he hangs out on random fire escapes without asking first. His backflip prowess is mentioned in passing by the coffee stand guys May sees on her way to work, and the runny-nosed kids May sees in the hospital’s waiting rooms spend more time oooohing and ahhhhhing over the near-misses and heroic saves in his YouTube exploits than over anything else. Once, she’d even spent ten minutes chortling through a story from Mrs. Tully two doors down about the webslinger himself tumbling through her open window with a suit half-on-fire and a harried apology about needing a shortcut through the building. May’s building. That, she supposes, makes it even less implausible for Spider-Man to show up in Peter’s room without that necessarily _meaning_ anything aside from the fact that Spider-Man was an endearingly reckless little punk. Peter did have such a bad habit of leaving his windows open…

Or perhaps it does mean something.

It isn’t completely unimaginable that Peter might know Spider-Man on some level. The Stark Internship, for all its flaws, had put Peter in contact with important people. Some of the same people Spider-Man would know, if May assumes correctly. Perhaps that was why Peter kept so much of what that internship entailed to himself…If he was mingling with superheroes and vigilantes—all of which he _knew_ she didn’t entirely approve of—there would have to be a certain level of secrecy involved. Especially if he had made friends as well as colleagues. And why shouldn’t he? If the traces of make-shift web bandages May occasionally found herself picking out of gunshot wounds at work and the bit of clever web geometry that kept the south side bridge from collapsing last week were any example, Spidey was no intellectual slouch himself. Just the kind of smarty-pants Peter was bound to make friends with, given half a chance. As brilliant as her boy is, May knows—has _always_ known—that it would only be a matter of time before he drifts into the big leagues. The fact that the big leagues are cropping up in his bedroom is…a bit more surprising.

But that’s Peter to a T, too. Never able to turn down a friend, whether it’s for help piecing together a Lego Deathstar or offering up his window as a shortcut. If Spider-Man is a friend, then Peter will no doubt be neck-deep in helping him with whatever he needs. May’s stomach turns with the memory of the news reports about the blown-out bodega three blocks away or the downed plane smoldering on a Coney Island beach, and she hopes beyond hope that all Spider-Man needs is a friendly fire escape to light on and maybe a little chemistry conversation. Or, if it _is_ anything beyond the reach of this building, that it’s only something to do with the little kindnesses Spidey is known for. She’s heard the seniors’ book club that meets on the building’s second floor mention how sweet “the nice boy in the leotard” who helps the members from across the street to make their way through the crosswalk is. The EMTs who pause at her nurse’s station long enough for coffee never shut up about the time he helped change an ambulance tire. Even Mr. Delmar, as hard as he is to impress, will always admit that Spidey’s a good guy for saving his cat’s life, if for no other reason. May can find a little comfort in that. That at least if Peter is getting mixed up with superheroes, he chose one as kind as he is.

As reckless. As brilliant. And as endlessly, unwaveringly kind…

Spider-Man moves, then, only a few steps across the narrow bedroom, but it’s enough. Recognition hits like a thunderbolt. Her ponderings collide with the proof in front of her, and May _knows_. She knows even before the mask slides off, before that familiar mop of curls puffs into view—all of the pieces click with a certainty that leaves her stomach queasy and her mind reeling with the realization—the _rebuke—_ that she could’ve spotted this a million times and places before now. All of the denials she’s scrambled for are beaten hollow in a split-second. It all adds up. A hundred strange excuses, a startling number of similarities, a few dozen mysteriously missing backpacks—and the sum of it all standing right in front of her, a hazy silhouette glowing against the afternoon sun. It’s a poorly hidden secret now that she recognizes it, barely concealed beneath the layer of smokescreens and badly-constructed lies that fall to pieces when May examines them in the light.

But a secret Peter had kept—and kept _fiercely_ if he’d managed to hold onto it for this long—from her nonetheless.

That part stings.

She can’t blame him entirely, given what must be a truly bizarre progression of events to have left her baby with superpowers and a mask, but the hurt still arcs through her like a current. It tangles up with the sputtering outrage that he’d do this—that he would _risk_ this—when they’ve already lost so much, with the gut-wrenching terror that he’s going to keep right on risking it, with the questions and curiosity and the conflicting bubble of pride that swells with every good thing she remembers about Peter’s alter ego. Her chest feels like it’s going to burst with the pressure of it. She swallows hard. Sucks in a deep and measured breath. Calm. She needs to be…calm. Rational. Reasonable. He’s still her kid, no matter what.

She exhales in a whoosh.

No matter what.

“What the _f—"_

**Author's Note:**

> I always love hearing from you guys if you'd like to drop a comment here or stop by to say hello on Tumblr!
> 
> Thank you all for reading!!! <3 I hope you're staying safe and healthy!!!


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